Track Your Time With HoursTracker Pro

Total Score: 27.5

HoursTracker Pro can assist you with tracking time you spend on tasks/jobs. You may need it to document billable hours, or you may just want to know how long you spend on each task to better manage your time. If you need a record of your time, then this app is invaluable, if you are just interested in time tracking, then it is helpful. It is easy to understand what you need to do with no complicated functions. I have been experimenting with time tracking for about six weeks. This is the first app that I found to meet my needs. I’m not saying there aren’t others out there – just that this one clicked with me.

Price Rating = 4 $6.99. With functionality, comes cost. There is a free version, but it has limited functionality, when quickly tested it seemed to only allow for three jobs. You can upgrade to Pro from the free version, or upgrade to a Cloud Subscription from either version. There is also an upgrade fee ($.99) for the GPS functionality.

Ease of Use Rating = 5 I have been using it for about a week and find it very easy to use. If I forget to start or stop a task I can easily adjust.

Readability Rating = 5 I have only tested it on the iPad, the font size is completely readable.

Will You Use It Rating = 5 I have been using it daily for time tracking. It could be used for periodic jobs or daily.

Downsides Rating = 0 I would like to have been able to have it available on both my iPhone and iPad, but that doesn’t seem possible. I didn’t deduct from the rating as this doesn’t detract from the functionality – just limits useability. I assume if i had first downloaded it on my iPhone then it wouldn’t transfer to the iPad. Overall, I’m glad I have it on the iPad.

Consumer Review Rating = 4.5 There are over 4,000 reviews and they are very positive. The current version has, percentage wise, an even higher rating. I’ve only been testing for a week, but apparently they keep making improvements.

Why Do You Need This App Rating = 4 Depending on your job, there might be a serious need for time tracking, or for some no need at all.

How does it work?

When you open the app your first task is to create some jobs. Tap the plus sign, top left on the iPad and on the right on the iPhone. You type a name and then set your hourly rate. At that point you can add additional parameters. 1) How to round the time; 2) Alerts to let you know when you have worked a certain amount on this specific task; 3) A daily overtime rate (1.5x or 2x) and when it applies. You can even set a second overtime rate; 4) The next option is to set a weekly overtime rate. The options for daily also apply here; 5) You can set your pay period settings – weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly or every four weeks.

Once you have named the job and determined all of your settings, you are ready to start tracking. You tap on a job and see the name of the job, the rate and large start/stop buttons. You can also, start or stop the clock at specific times. This is handy if you know you started (or stopped) at a certain time and forgot to indicate it in the app.

As you work on multiple jobs, you can tap the day/week/month/job buttons to see your total hours for the job or the periods of time. And, if you have included your hourly rate, what you are due.

You can also see the times you’ve worked on a specific job from start to finish.

If you have enabled the GPS tracking you can receive notifications when you arrive and leave and have the app automatically track your time at the location.

When you have a job open you can tap the information icon (a small i) to adjust any of the information about it.

I know there are some features that help you filter your work to add things like active, closed, billable or paid. I haven’t figured out how to use them yet.

Using the export feature you can send email yourself, or a client, an exact list of the times you spent on the job.

There are some shortcut gestures to save you time with quickly starting or stopping times. I haven’t tested them yet, but they look helpful.

As I mentioned in the intro, I need to track my time and I’ve tried a couple of apps and finally resorted to paper until I found this one. It was able to set up jobs quickly and within minutes I was tracking my tasks. I do juggle a number of jobs, so starting and stopping quickly is important. And, the ability to adjust the times has helped with that. I’ll be using this app daily for a while. Test it out and let me know what you think.

Devices: This app is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. It is optimized for iPhone 5. The iTunes Store indicates it is available in 30+ languages. App developed by Carlos Ribas